RET is a receptor tyrosine kinase that activates multiple downstream pathways involved in cell proliferation and survival. RET fusions are implicated in several cancers including papillary thyroid carcinoma and non-small cell lung cancer. A genomics analysis on the landscape of kinase fusions identified RET fusions in breast and colon cancer patient samples, providing therapeutic rationale for the use of RET inhibitors in multiple patient subpopulations.
The identification of RET fusions as drivers in some cancers prompted the use of approved multi-kinase inhibitors with RET inhibitory activity to treat patients whose tumors express a RET fusion protein. However, these drugs cannot always be dosed at the levels required to sufficiently inhibit RET due to toxicities that result from inhibition of targets other than RET. Further, one of the greatest challenges in treating cancer is the ability of tumor cells to become resistant to therapy. Kinase reactivation via mutation is a common mechanism of resistance. When resistance occurs, the patient's treatment options are often very limited, and the cancer progresses, unchecked, in most instances. There is thus a need for compounds that inhibit RET, as well as its resistant mutants.